Followers’ Moral Experience of Servant Leadership as an Antecedent of Unethical Pro-organizational Behaviors
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Authors
Rong, YU
Issue Date
2025
Type
Dissertation
Language
en_US
Keywords
Cognition , Leadership , Morality , Motivation , Pro-organizational Behaviors , Value
Alternative Title
Abstract
This dissertation examines when and why while led by servant leaders, followers engage in behaviors that violate standards of proper conduct with an intention to promote the effective functioning of the organization or its members, or, unethical pro-organizational behaviors (UPOB). Challenging the view that unethical actions stem solely from self-interest, UPOB captures behaviors intended to benefit the organization yet violate broader ethical norms. While servant leadership is often lauded for its moral orientation and multiple stakeholders-centered focus, emerging evidence suggests it can unintentionally promote UPOB. This study addresses a critical gap by investigating how followers’ moral foundations influence their UPOB through modifying their perception of leaders’ behaviors and the desire to maintain moral self-regard.Drawing from moral foundations theory and leadership moralization theory, I propose that servant leadership influences UPOB through two distinct pathways: an individual-focused route and a group-focused route. Followers’ endorsement of specific moral foundations determines how they moralize leaders’ behaviors. These appraisals, in turn, motivate followers to engage in value-consistent behaviors via the motivation to establish a positive self-view, despite of those behaviors might be ethically questionable.
Four studies (a vignette experiment, two construct validation studies, and a multi-wave field survey) provide partial support for the proposed model. The findings contribute theoretically by expanding the moral mechanisms behind UPOB, enriching leadership moralization theory through a dual-pathway framework, and highlighting the unintended ethical consequences of servant leadership. Practically, the study underscores the importance of aligning leadership approaches with followers’ moral reasoning to mitigate ethical blind spots. Together, the dissertation offers a follower-centric framework for understanding the complex moral dynamics of servant leadership.